This invention relates to a ski boot.
Today's ski boots made of a plastics material are known to comprise a shell whereon, at the foot neck level, a short calf-piece or raised upper is provided which, in general, has its top end located slightly above the ankle. Moreover, that raised upper provides rearward support for the wearer's leg through a fairly high rear flap, whereas the front of the raised upper is always made slightly lower to facilitate a limited flexing movement of the leg with respect to the foot.
Such ski boots afford ski control capabilities through the clamping action exerted by latch levers on the skier's foot, thereby the skier's foot actually becomes one thing with the boot. Thus, it is necessary that the closure at the foot neck be fairly tight, which could result in poor blood circulation through one's feet, awkward deambulation, and anomalous squeezing of the calf and shin.
Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the weakest section of the shin is located at one eighth of the ankle-to-knee distance from the ankle, and this is indeed the area where traditional ski boots are terminated, with consequent potential risk of breaking one's tibiae against the top edge of the ski boot raised uppers.
With a view to eliminating such drawbacks, various solutions have been proposed, which provide raised uppers of increased height, thus bringing the top edges thereof to a level just below the skier's knee, thereby they practically encircle the entire lower portion of the skier's leg.
Such solutions, as disclosed in previous patents, have failed to prove practicable because they generally provide a fairly shallow body shell, whereto a raised upper or calf-piece is hingedly connected which is virtually rigid and clamps the leg along the tibia both on the front and rear, thus drastically restricting all the possibilities for leg-to-foot articulation, both while actually skiing and simply walking. Moreover, a tight fitting of the raised upper against the skier's calf results, here too, in considerable wearer's discomfort.